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Story (9/10): Magi: The Kingdom of Magic is a continuation of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. The show starts off at the end of the first season, Aladdin and his friends are on their separate paths to go after their own personal goals. Unlike the first season, this season will be an overarching storyline that will primarily be centered around Aladdin and the country of Magnostadt. Like the first season, dark themes surround this anime ranging from war to discrimination and imprisonment.

Characters (9/10): In the second season, more characters have been added to the show. Because of this, I will only discuss vital characters pertaining ... to the plot.

Aladdin is still childish but he's growing up. He is shown to be much wiser and skillful as he uses of his newfound experience during combat. Unfortunately, as the story progresses (and secrets are revealed) he will become conflicted in his sense of right and wrong.

In this season, Alibaba and Morgiana have now been downgraded to supporting cast members in order to make way for new characters. At the very least, both of them do have their own episodes concerning their desired goals before the story shifts back towards Aladdin.

Titus Alexius is a student of the Magnostadt Academy who later becomes Aladdin's friend. Because of his situation/condition, he sees life as precious and seeks to make the most of his life by protecting his friends.

Scheherazade is one of the three original Magi of this world who is the High Priestess/co-creator of the Reim Empire. Her backstory intertwines with that of Titus so this is all that I can say about her.

Matal Mogamett is the main antagonist of this story arc. The character development for him is very good. He is a very discriminative anti-villain who will stop at nothing to maintain the current status quo of Magnostadt and the magicians who live there. His reasons and actions are so well developed that it just blurs your moral perception.

Supporting Characters: There is even more supporting characters than the first season. Again, each one of them have unique personalities and values. Unlike the first season, many of the new characters have minor backstories/development. This is justified seeing as how most of them are soldiers or participants in the coming conflict so not much backstory is needed.

Art/Animation (10/10): The art/animation is modern. The characters are drawn with extremely detail when in their Metal Vessel/Household Vessel forms. The backgrounds are also very detailed and colored brightly. The same goes for any battle scenes that take place; the animation is very fluid.

Sound/Music (9.5/10): The sound/music was good. The opening theme music was exciting, upbeat and joyful like in the first season. The second opening theme music was more emotional. The soundtrack over the adventure and battles were also really good.

Enjoyment (9/10): I enjoyed it. But by the series' end, my desire to watch more has become insatiable; especially due to the massive cliffhanger ending; which I felt could be completed with a few OVAs.

Summary/Overall (9/10): The story was good and exciting. The character development is excellent. The music is also very good. The amount of satisfaction after watching this is very high.

Review #12

Initial Review for Newcomers: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is loosely based on One Thousand and One Nights (more commonly known as Arabian Nights). A boy named Aladdin has been bestowed with great power and with his friends, he will help save/protect the world. Over the course of their adventure, they encounter treasures, magic, women and... social and political injustices. Over the course of this anime, dark themes of slavery, poverty, corruption and war occur. This anime expresses these themes in a similar fashion to another well known show (Yes, I'm referring to Avatar: The Last Airbender; although Avatar's dark themes are lightly touched and ... more war oriented).

Dub or Sub?: Either one, though I would recommend the sub. The dub is watchable (not bad but not good either) but I didn't find Aladdin's voice to be childlike enough. Alibaba's voice sounded a bit effeminate the first time I heard it. Morgiana's voice was good. Sinbad's voice matched up pretty well. There was also one character whose voice didn't match up at all but I forgot his name. All things considered, the dub is watchable, with minor problems. The sub was superb, I found very little problems with the Japanese cast.

Story (8/10): The story of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic focuses on Aladdin and his friends Alibaba and Morgiana. The show starts off simple enough, Aladdin and his (future) friends go on a perilous quest to seek their fortune. Eventually, they will face dark challenges on the their journey. An interesting aspect of the story is the addition of war and politics. This becomes more apparent as the story progresses with the introduction of Sinbad, the country of Balbadd and the ongoings of the Kou Empire.

Characters (8/10): The show borrows several character elements from its source material. The three protagonists, Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana each retain several traits in common with their original counterparts. The same goes for other characters like Sinbad, Cassim and Scheherazade (we'll see her later in the second season).

Aladdin is an innocent child. His interactions with others shows his naiveté. His personality is wise and he always tries to find non-violent solutions problematic situations. For the most part, he tries to see the best in people and adds a lot of emotion to the story.
Side note: I think the creators of the show should have toned down his perverted behavior.

Alibaba is a naïve idealist. His reasons are there but the execution of said reasons prove to be difficult (without help from others). This is very apparent when his backstory and life choices are shown in the Fog Troupe Arc.

Morgiana is a strong, independent woman. Like Alibaba, she is portrayed as naïve (primarily due to her enslavement) but she is also strong willed. Her personality develops very well throughout the show.

Supporting Characters: There is a lot of supporting characters. Each one of them have unique personalities and perspectives that really help move the story. Most of them have enough backstory/development to become a main character (FYI, they made a spin-off starring Sinbad).

Art/Animation (10/10): The art/animation is modern. The backgrounds are very detailed and colored brightly. The same goes for any battle scenes that take place; the animation is very fluid.

Sound/Music (9.5/10): The sound/music was good. The opening theme music was Middle Eastern-esque and was exciting and upbeat. The soundtrack over the adventure and battles were really enjoyable too. My only concern was the ending theme. It just doesn't seem to go with the show as an ending theme.

Enjoyment (8/10): I enjoyed it. By the end of the first season, I wanted to see more.

Summary/Overall (8/10): The story was good and exciting. The character development is excellent. The music is also very good. The amount of satisfaction after watching this is high.

Review #11

A Simple Review of FLCL

Initial Review for Newcomers: FLCL is an abstract, slice of life anime, so please be open minded if you are interested in watching it. It is the coming-of-age story of a young boy whose life is turned upside down and inside out when a human alien comes into his life.

Dub or Sub?: Dub. The dub is considered to be very good by most people. The sub is also acceptable.

Story/Characters (7/10): The story is technically a slice of life with a twist. The protagonist, Naota Nandaba, lived his life day by day until... he gets hit in the face by a Rickenbacker ... 4001 bass guitar in the first episode. Then, a robot comes out of his head in a later episode! He tries to continue his normal life e.g. going to school but trouble ensues when the bump on his head acts up or when Haruko shows up. Nevertheless, the show will only get more metaphoric (of his maturity from kid to teen) from the first episode onward.

In general, the show is wacky, comedic slice of life. It parodies itself, (the manga) and the sci-fi and mecha genres too. The show is ripe with metaphors of maturity and sexual innuendos. Even the title of the show itself is presumably a sexual innuendo. The whole show just screams 'the coming-of-age Naota'. Every interaction hints toward his eventual maturity. Even his choice of soda(s) is a hint. Naota does try to resist the changes that occur in his life (given his cynical attitude) but they are simply out of his control.

Art/Animation (9/10): The art/animation is modern but it does feel a bit old. The colors could have been more brighter and the animation was decent.

Sound/Music (10/10): The sound/music was awesome. It was some of the best music that I have heard in a long time. The ending theme is a classic that many people should listen to.

Enjoyment (8/10): I enjoyed it. It totally reminded my of my teen-teenage years when I started to grow up.

Summary/Overall (8/10): The story was good and exciting. The character development could have been expanded a bit more but its okay. The music deserves a lot of praise. The amount of satisfaction after watching this was good.

Review #10

A Review of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

Initial Review for Newcomers: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos is a not sequel to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood but is a side-story. It
takes place in between Episodes 16 and 20 of Brotherhood. The movie does not add many new things other than a few characters and different variations of what was seen in the show. Feel free to watch it either after you finish the show or during it. It doesn't really matter since the feel of watching the movie is like watching another episode or a very long deleted scene.

Dub or Sub?: Both. ... They used the same voice actors and the new characters had good dubs as well.

Story/Characters (7/10): The movie is a lost episode. Its made well enough to be counted as another episode of the main storyline. The brothers are still trying to find a way to get Al's body back. After an incident occurs, Mustang sends to brothers to investigate. Adventure in a new location, military stuff, the Brothers doing cool alchemy, essentially more of the same thing happens. But there are changes that do make this movie interesting.

The Elric Brothers: The brothers are awesome. You know who they are and what they do so lets continue on with the other characters.

The Supporting Cast Members: Lets see, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Winry Rockbell and other characters from the show make minor appearances. It was good for us to see them again but their appearances seemed a bit unneeded.

The New Cast Members:

Julia Crichton: a female alchemist who fights to reclaim and restore of the country of Milos. She is very similar to the brothers themselves in terms of morality and love for family. She also serves as a potential love interest to them too. But, unlike them she is a revolutionary who fights to take back her country. She is also not afraid to kill when push comes to shove. Her backstory will be shown in the film.

Ashleigh Crichton: Julia's brother is a spoiler so my description will be short. When he was young, he studied the notes and clues left behind by his parents regarding the secrets of Milos and the Sanguine Star. The movie will explain what happens to him next.

Atlas: He is the Crichton family's bodyguard. Anymore than this will be a spoiler.

Miranda: leader of the Black Bats, who fights for the valley-dwellers. She is determined to fight for every Milosian and will do whatever she can to accomplish her goals.

Location: Table City, a city which lies on the border between Creta and Amestris holds a powerful secret....which will be explained in the film.

Other notable/interesting things: werewolf-like chimera and the Black Bats, a group of winged soldiers.

Art/Animation (10/10): The art/animation is slightly better than the show's. The colors were sharper and the animation was much more simpler.

Sound/Music (10/10): The sound/music was good.

Enjoyment (8/10): I enjoyed it. It wasn't awesome worthy but it was a good addition to the storyline.

Summary/Overall (8/10): The story was decent. The character development was good (for the new characters) and the amount of satisfaction after watching this was decent.

Review #9

A Review of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa

Initial Review for Newcomers: Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa is a sequel to Fullmetal Alchemist. It continues the story from both the brothers' viewpoints as they live separated from one another. The sequel continues its dark themes as the brothers mature and finally accept their place and role in the world that they live in.

Dub or Sub?: Both. They used the same voice actors.

Story/Characters (7/10): Ever since the ending of Fullmetal Alchemist, I thought that it would be impossible for anyone to continue the story from that point (The ending was good on its own.). ... Fortunately, it turns out that you can continue the storyline after the the series ended. Unfortunately, it did not turn out the way that I expected it to be.

The Elric Brothers: The brothers, Edward and Alphonse, have regressed since their quest of atonement and discovery. Over the course of the movie, Edward seemed a bit useless since he can no longer use his alchemy and Alphonse became his brother in their home universe. Their new goal is to find Edward a way back home. To say anything else would spoil the rest of the film so I leave you with the hint of a disappointing yet accepted ending.

The Supporting Cast Members: Most of the supporting cast do make minor cameo appearances but it is still not enough to alleviate the desire to see them again; other than rewatching the show all over again.

The Villains: The villains are the Thule Society of pre-Nazi Germany. This has been hinted near the end of the show when Edward met up with his dad on the other universe (If you don't remember, WWI zeppelins were attacking Great Britain). I felt that the Nazis were nothing but ignorant villains who were given knowledge of power but were unable to understand or use it properly. In addition, their ultimate goal (to conquer Amestris) seemed very unrealistic.

Art/Animation (10/10): The art/animation is similar to the show's.

Sound/Music (10/10): The sound/music was good enough.

Enjoyment (8/10): I enjoyed it but the plot, characters/villains really took my level of enjoyment down a peg.

Summary/Overall (8/10): The story could have been better. The character development was minimal (since most of it was shown in the show) and the amount of satisfaction after watching this was decent.

Review #8

A Generalized Review of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Initial Review for Newcomers: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a dark, action adventure that focuses on the Elric brothers' quest to regain what they had lost. This anime has good character development and a greater view of the world that the brothers live in. Like its predecessor, the themes of sacrifice, hardship/struggle, risk, maturity, morality and death are still ever present.

Dub or Sub?: Both. Although, I do find the English dub team to be the greater of the two. Each voice actor sounded like they were born for their roles.

Story/Characters (10/10): Okay, where do I even start? If you've seen ... the first Fullmetal Alchemist then you know the situation I'm in when writing this review.

The Story: The story is centered around the grand adventure of Elric Brothers. If I say anymore, it will just spoil the show since there are no filler episodes.

The Elric Brothers: The Brothers, Edward and Alphonse, are on a quest of both atonement and discovery. Over the course of the show, the brothers are forced to grow up fast when they faced many problems that challenge their morals and ideals which govern their actions. Along their journey they meet many people who either help or hinder their quest. Eventually, they will later find that their problems are not the only ones that need fixing.

The Supporting Cast Members: consist of over 30 characters so I'm not even going to get started on describing them all. Lets just say that they are all good in their own right.

Art/Animation (10/10): The art/animation is modern. So there's not much to complain about.

Sound/Music (10/10): The sound/music was good. The opening and ending theme songs were acceptable for my taste.

Enjoyment (10/10): I thoroughly enjoyed it. This anime is a must watch for everyone.

Summary/Overall (10/10): The story is great. The character development is great (considering the number of characters involved) and the amount of satisfaction is enormous. After that, feel free to watch the side-story Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos.

Review #7

A Generalized Review of Fullmetal Alchemist

Initial Review for Newcomers: Fullmetal Alchemist is a slow, dark, drama that focuses on character development and themes of sacrifice, hardship/struggle, maturity, morality and death.

Dub or Sub?: Both. But, I do have to commend the English dub team. Each of the voice actors fit their roles very well.

Story/Characters (10/10): The story starts off with a seemingly straightforward plot (e.g. boy and partner works on cases using magic) until the third episode. The third episode starts a flashback story that shows the backstory/driving force behind the two brothers' actions throughout the whole series. Over time, the brothers were forced to grow ... up fast when they faced many problems that challenge their morals and ideals. Along their journey they meet many people who either help or hinder their quest. (The supporting cast members consist of over 30 characters so I'm not even going to get started on describing them all.) Each of the characters have their own backstory describing their desires and ambitions. The emotions of the characters (both good and bad) run very high as they are portrayed brilliantly by their respective voice actors. By the end of the show, I felt very sympathetic to all of the characters.
The show starts off a bit slow but it picks up the pace by episode 20. From there on, it only gets darker.
(Note: this show is a spinoff. The main storyline is different from the manga. If you want to see the original story based on the manga go watch Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.)

Art/Animation (10/10): The art/animation is some-what modern. The art and animation still has a certain 1999's feel to it but it's not too bad.

Sound/Music (10/10): The sound/music was good. The opening and ending theme songs were catchy and upbeat.

Enjoyment (10/10): I thoroughly enjoyed it. This anime is a must watch for anyone who enjoys good anime.

Summary/Overall (10/10): The story is great. The character development is awesome and the amount of satisfaction is enormous. After that, feel free to watch the sequel Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa.

Review #6

A Disappointing Review of Sonic X

Story/Characters (5/10): Lets talk about the characters first. Sonic, the blue, funny and fast hedgehog, is the main protagonist of this show. He is the hero, the knight in shining armor, the... okay lets just skip his intro. We all know who Sonic is so there's no need to explain his background. He appears in a lot of videogames and is the mascot character of Sega. In this show he is portrayed as a cool, cocky and fast character. He is headstrong and always runs before he thinks. His goal is to stop Dr. Eggman from obtaining the Chaos Emeralds.
Dr. ... Eggman, Sonic's power hungry arch-enemy, is a mad scientist who wants all of the 7 Chaos Emeralds in order to gain absolute power (...for some reason).
Supporting cast: essentially, anyone who is not Sonic or Dr. Eggman is a supporting cast member. Even the human protagonist, Christopher Thorndyke had been converted to being a simple damsel in distress. In fact most of the main cast was there just to help Sonic. Other than that they were pretty much useless.
Honorable mention goes to Shadow and Rouge, who are by far the coolest characters with the best backstories aside from Sonic himself.

The story seems very generic with the hero finding things in order to defeat the main villain. In Sonic X's case, he bursts into Dr. Eggman's base right when he was about to achieve absolute power. Sonic interferes with his plan which causes an explosion that transports everyone to Earth. After that, Sonic and his friends team up with Chris to collect all the Chaos Emeralds in order for them to get home and defeat Dr. Eggman.

Art/Animation (6/10): The art/animation was watchable but nothing stood out as interesting.

Sound/Music (6/10): Generic. Nothing stood out as interesting except for the theme song. I found that to be very catchy.

Dub or Sub?: Sub. If you plan on watching this, go with the sub/Japanese version. They edited a lot of violent stuff out of the Japanese version when they created the American version. The American version was very kid friendly. The english dub voice acting was acceptable but the dialogue wasn't very good.

Enjoyment (6/10): The show entertained me when I was young but now, I mainly see it as a waste of time. The only thing that was worthwhile was any interactions/battles that took place between Sonic and Dr. Eggman.

Summary/Overall (6/10): Overall, this is a kid's show so all of the things that I listed above are not important. The story is generic. The characters are uninteresting (aside from the four I mentioned above). The art and sound aren't that impressive. And, the show does absolutely no justice to any of the Sonic videogames that I played as a child.

Review #5

Story/Characters (7/10): This show is a show aimed at kids. It has an easy an simple plot that anyone can follow. Kirby, a pink (alien?) star warrior crash lands on the planet of Pop Star. There he befriends the citizens of Cappy Town and defends them from monsters that their king, King Dedede, sends to kill Kirby.
The characters are very likable. Tiff and Toff are Kirby's best friends who will always look out for him. King Dedede is a funny yet foolish villain whose reasons for antagonising Kirby are like that of Lex Luthor's hatred of Superman. And lastly, Meta Knight, the coolest character in ... the whole show. He is the dark, quite, mysterious knight who works for the king but will help Kirby whenever he gets the chance.

Art/Animation (8.5/10): The art is modern. The show often uses bright colors to emphasize Cappy Town as a peaceful and happy place. The show was animated with CGI. The CGI was fluid and worked well with the 2D artwork but there were some scenes where the CGI failed to render properly.

Sound/Music (8.5/10): The sound/music were good. All of the sounds were used well and the music was cheery and happy. I also found the theme song to be enjoyable.

Dub or Sub?: Both. The American and Japanese voice actors did a wonderful job at dubbing the show, especially the Japanese voice actors.

Enjoyment/Summary/Overall (7.5/10): In my youth, I enjoyed the show as much as the next kid. The story was easy to follow. The art and sound were bright and cheerful. The characters were lovable. The plot holes and twists were at a minimum.

Review #4

A Review of Monster Farm (Seasons 1 & 2)

Story (6.5/10): The story is not that original and has been done in other TV shows (like Digimon). The story follows Genki Sakura, who is a very good player of the Monster Rancher video game. He wins the game's tournament, wins a CD, uses the CD, and is then transported into Monster Rancher video game. Afterwards he finds companions (both monsters and human) to help him on his journey to get a more powerful monster to overthrow a tyrant named Moo. Expect filler episodes. The story is unique in terms of the different monsters and scary moments ... but that's about it. The plot twists that makes shows good are lacking in this one since they only last a few episodes. Overall, the story is pretty generic.

Characters (6/10): In terms of character design, the protagonist looks a lot like Ash Ketchum from Pokemon. His attitude is that of a teen so don't expect that much maturity on his adventures. His monster companions are sort of cool, especially Golem and Tiger. If anything, the only reason I watched the show was because of Tiger. Tiger's design exudes coolness. There was one notable tearjerker episode involving him but that's about it. After that, his appearances were less emotional and more akin to an attack dog. The main villain named Moo (who I initially thought was a cow when I heard his name) was a very cool dragon who needed a LOT more screen time. I mean, we only see him a few times throughout the entire show.

Art/Animation (6/10): The art/animation is early (1999). So it's not in any way modern or special.

Sound/Music (5/10): The sounds are generic. The music was also generic (cheery songs in happy scenes, sad songs in darker scenes,...etc.). The only exception would be the opening theme song. It was enjoyable but not outstanding.

Dub or Sub?: Dub. I saw the English dub of this show back when it was on Fox Kids. The dub was decent, some characters voices were weird but overall the dub was acceptable.

Enjoyment (7/10): In my youth, I enjoyed it. The first season was good enough (for my standards at the time) but then the show seemed to die off when the second season appeared.
Who Would Enjoy it?: Kids, no one above a kid should watch this, unless you're really, really, really bored.

Summary/Overall (6/10): The show wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. The show's creators could have done a better job of this show. The show seemed a bit lackluster by the end of its run.

Similar Shows: Pokemon, Digimon

Review #2